27: Gone Too Soon - a Netflix documentary

The documentary "27: Gone Too Soon" is a compelling portrait of iconic musicians who all died at the tender age of 27. The list of artists who closed their eyes forever at this age is shockingly long. The 27: Gone Too Soon doc takes viewers on a journey through their short, yet impressive careers.

"27: Gone Too Soon" review - How Fame Drives to Death.

Former musician and current radio host Tom Robinson illustrates the supposedly strong connection between brilliant artists and early deaths in the "27: Gone Too Soon" review. He suggests that looking at the 20th and 21st centuries reveals a shocking pattern: More than 50 pop musicians died at the tender age of 27. But that's just the tip of the iceberg - if you look at the age range between 26 and 28, the number rises to more than 100. And that's not all—if you look at all the pop musicians who were at the peak of their careers, a frightening picture emerges: Over 1,000 musicians died before the age of 35. This statistic is alarming evidence of how musicians are falling apart because of their fame.

The tragic passing of music legends

Written and directed by Simon Napier-Bell, the "27: Gone Too Soon" film highlights the so-called "Club 27," which consists of six talented musicians who all died at the age of 27. But the club is not a happy place. Instead it's a rather gloomy tomb where the ghosts of these unfortunate souls roam. Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison all died within three years of each other. A decade later, Kurt Cobain joined them, followed 17 years later by Amy Winehouse.

Psychedelic Revolution: How Drugs Shaped the Music of the 60s

In the 1960s, musicians began to explore their subconscious for the first time. Taking psychedelic drugs allowed musicians to explore a world beyond their own imagination, where they found inspiration for their music. For many of these artists, discovering their own psyche while under the influence of drugs was a great opportunity to stimulate their creativity. The results were amazing. When the musicians regained full consciousness, they created masterpieces that combined both levels of consciousness. Their music was profound, revolutionary and showed a new perspective on life. During this time, music became an indispensable part of culture, allowing a new kind of expansion of consciousness.

Cocaine: A Funky Era in the Music Industry

Record companies cultivated friendly relationships with artists by doing whatever artists wanted. Whether it was alcohol or drugs they demanded, the record companies were ready to grant every wish from their lips. Successful artists earned tens of thousands of euros week after week, which led them to believe that their physical tolerance was growing accordingly. But the flip side of this excessive lifestyle was abuse and manipulation.

At that time, any amount of cocaine was used, the arrival of which dates back to the 1970s. But at that time, no one knew how much of the substances was reasonable, which meant that people often took too much. Artists lost themselves in a world of intoxication and drugs, and the record company enabled them. The consequences were often devastating. David Bowie, one of the biggest stars of the time, is cited in the "27: Gone Too Soon" review as a prime example of personality decay when he made the Hitler salute at Victoria Station.

3 D's: Drinks, drugs and depressions

What Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse all had in common was a traumatic experience in their childhood, and the creativity that helped them process their trauma through music. The "27: Gone Too Soon" film shows that they were all outsiders who felt repressed and misguided. But their art gave them a voice that suddenly came with fame and fortune.

Drinks, drugs, and depression: traumatized musicians in particular are very sensitive, which is why they often fall into a deep, black hole of substance abuse. Alcohol and drugs were the undoing of Jones, Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Cobain, and Winehouse, causing them to fall into a maelstrom of excess and lose control of their lives. And finally, they all had to pay with death at the age of 27.

3 artists and their stories in 27: Gone Too Soon

Brian Jones

Brian Jones, a former Rolling Stones member, had a drastic experience at the age of three when his 18-month-old sister died. While the young Brian could not yet fully comprehend the loss, this experience shaped him. Even before the first meeting with Mick and the rest of the troupe, Brian consumed an immense amount of drugs and by the age of 19 had already the fathered three children—all with different women. After he founded the band The Rolling Stones, it went steeply uphill—not only career-wise, but also relationship-wise.

He met Anita Pallenberg. The two were considered the golden couple of Europe at the time. When Anita was taken away from him by his own bandmate Keith Richards, he had to cope with the next loss. At this time, Mick Jagger increasingly moved into the spotlight, which made Brian jealous. Then, when his songwriting role was taken away, he looked for a way to deal with the rejection of his own bandmates. He drugged himself to the point of unconsciousness. Brian's ejection from his own band followed, and shortly thereafter, his death. He drowned in the pool under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix's childhood was also anything but easy. He came into the world as the son of a 17-year-old mother. His siblings followed: a brother born with serious deformities, a sister who was born blind, and another sister with terrible birth defects. Shortly thereafter, the mother abandoned her children, leaving Jimi with no choice but to care for his younger brother. This stimulated his creativity. After joining a swing band, he decided to take off as a successful solo artist and toured all over England. His recipe for success: as an ingenious musician who extracted the absolute most from his guitar performance after performance, he absolutely hit the spirit of the times. But self-destruction followed: Jimi got caught up with the wrong crowd. He also could not keep his hands off drugs, for which he ultimately had to pay with death.

Janis Joplin

Born into a liberal family, Janis Joplin was different from most of her classmates even as a child. Because she held the liberal views of her family, she was bullied and ostracized. As if that wasn't enough, she also suffered from acne so severe that it left scars. It was a tough start in life that led her to turn to alcohol early on to numb her pain. When she moved to San Francisco for her music career, she never missed an opportunity to party until the wee hours of the morning.

After starting with cocaine, Joplin moved on to other psychotics, and eventually to heroin. She overdid it. People close to her claim that you could see her own problems. Time and again there were moments when she seemed fragile, as if she were carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. But at that time, the terms "addiction" and "withdrawal" were not commonly known, and no one knew how to help her. In the end, it was a heroin overdose that took Janis' life.

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More contributions can be found at mukken!

But I don't want to tell you too much. If you're curious now and want to learn more about the lives of Morrison, Cobain, and Winehouse, check out the remaining musicians' portraits in the documentary "27: Gone Too Soon" on Netflix. If you also want to read more blog posts about the lives of world-famous singers, check out mukken. In the Books & Movies section you'll find other exciting articles about the lives of Billie Eilish and other artists. In addition, you have the opportunity to get in touch with like-minded people on our platform, if you are a musician, too. Take this unique chance!